Lawyers Lucio Aquino and cousin go to Cassation against surrender to Italy
© BELGA


MAASMECHELEN/GENK/ANTWERP -Lucio Aquino (61) and his cousin Donato O. (35) must be handed over to Italy. There they are suspects in an Italian file on drug smuggling and the mafia clan 'ndrangheta. Their lawyers do not give up and go to Cassation to challenge that surrender.
Phillip Pergens
Today at 12:09
“We are going to Cassation”, lawyers Jan Keulen and Hugo Vandenberghe respond to the decision of the indictment chamber (KI) in Antwerp. There they follow the decision of the Limburg council chamber to hand over Lucio Aquino and Donato O. to Italy.

Cologne and Vandenberghe perform for the 61-year-old Maasmechelaar. Frank Scheerlinck is counsel to Aquino's nephew Donato O. (35) and also continues his legal battle. Because their clients don't like a transfer to an Italian prison. In Italy, they suspect both Belgians with Italian roots of, among other things, large-scale drug smuggling and membership of a criminal organization. In the Eureka file, the suspects are linked to the powerful Calabrese mafia 'ndrangheta.

Conditions of detention

On Wednesday 3 May of this year, 147 alleged members of the 'ndrangheta were arrested during numerous house searches across Europe. Also Lucio and co. Italy has since requested the surrender of six Limburgers. The Italians are also asking for a transfer of criminal proceedings. In other words, they want to take over the similar Belgian investigation into the suspects in order to try them in their country.

The defense has objections to both the detention conditions in Italy, where they have a strict regime for alleged mafiosi, and the handing over of criminal proceedings in our country.

The treatment for Cassation must take place within two weeks. If the Court of Cassation overturns the AI's decision, the surrender request will again be submitted to the indictment chamber within two weeks. In a maximum of a month, the suspects will know whether they have to go to Italy or not.